Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon
This was based on a Reddit writing prompt thread, "You have the most well respected and feared job in all of the world. You go into the wild, and put down rabid Pokemon who've killed humans." Just as a warning- it is violent and sad. I warned you. Also, Lyssavirus is similar to rabies [rabies is caused by lyssaviruses]. Obviously where I got the name from.
I was searching for a Raticate, which had recently killed its trainer. Another victim of Lyssavirus, the new disease that recently appeared, causing Pokemon to hallucinate and attack anything in sight. These Pokemon were bloodthirsty and vicious, where they often had a power boost that came with the disease. This disease would be transferred from Pokemon to Pokemon through contact of saliva or blood.
When the disease had started to form, many Pokemon ran amok with it. It spread like wildfire and no Pokemon was safe. The disease was subtle and swift, where it took mere minutes for the effects to occur. Hallucinations, violence, bloodthirst, an extreme power boost. All of these were symptoms of Lyssavirus.
Humans, however, did not contract the disease. But, most of the casualties were humans, as humans were physically weaker than Pokemon.
In response to the disease, humans had started forming guilds to protect cities and towns from infected Pokemon. After my Charizard contracted the virus and razed my home, killing my mother, wife, and children, along with most of my other Pokemon, my partner and I joined the Pallet Town Guild to protect the remaining citizens from the Pokemon who contracted Lyssavirus.
Going back to the Raticate... Some twelve year old kid ended up sneaking out of the city. The kid went to, of course, catch Pokemon, when it ran into a Pokemon that had Lyssavirus. The Raticate had protected its trainer and, thanks to being a higher level than the wild Pokemon, had killed the opponent. But, the kid never noticed the tiny Bite wound on the Raticate's shoulder and brought it back home, where the Raticate quickly succumbed to the disease. The Raticate killed the kid and ran off, so now I was sent to hunt the Raticate.
"Do you hear it?" I asked my partner. My partner, a Pikachu, twitched his ears and shook his head.
"Wonder where it is..." I murmured, venturing through the tall grass in Route 1. My Pikachu, the one who was ever there for me after my Charizard contracted the disease [where it took all of my other Pokemon to kill Charizard, but his Fire Blasts ended up killing them all], looking around, with his little ears twitching as he tried to listen to any movements.
"Pika Pikachu," Pikachu complained, with a slight whine to his voice. I chuckled softly, understanding that I was making too much noise for him to listen properly.
"Sorry, bud," I said, as I pulled out my gun and loaded it, in case Raticate did appear. One should not be unprepared when hunting a Lyssa-mon.
After an hour of searching, we arrived into a clearing. I heard a low growl come from Pikachu. He jumped off my shoulder and landed on all fours, with his ears low and tail arched at an angle. I readied my gun, when a flash of brown appeared.
The Raticate looked at me from the tall grass, its heavily dilated eyes shining with a glimmer of blood lust. Dried blood caked its fur and it grinned maliciously, with foam frothing out of its mouth. There were several injuries on the Raticate, but the Lyssa-mon ignored them in favor of coming to us.
"Thunder Wave," I ordered Pikachu. Pikachu complied, sending a tiny spark of electricity at Raticate. Right when the attack was about to hit, Raticate sped away in the a brown blur, then turned around to rush at Pikachu. Obviously, it suspected that Pikachu was the bigger threat.
"Shit that was Quick Attack! Pikachu, match that too! Dodge and try to corner it!" I yelled out. Pikachu nodded and dodged the move, then ran alongside Raticate in a yellow blur.
Both of the Pokemon were gone, vanished from the clearing. I shivered as I realized that I would not have the additional protection that Pikachu gave me. Pikachu was my first Pokemon, my partner. I felt safe around him, and with him chasing Raticate, an sense of foreboding filled the air.
I trekked into the thick grove of trees, training my ears to pick up any sounds of a Raticate or Pikachu. As I walked more, the shadows of the trees grew closer, making it darker. An eerie and unnatural silence hung in the air.
Suddenly, a brown blur dashed at me. I gave a yelp and pointed at the oncoming blur, trying to shoot it. The blur dodged my bullets. I closed my eyes as I saw the form of Raticate come close to me, its mouth opened wide, its teeth ready to sink into the soft flesh of my neck.
A sudden blur of electrifying yellow came and knocked Raticate out of the path. The Raticate tried to get up, but collapsed, its charred fur taking on a darker brown tone. I sighed in relief and looked at my saviour.
"Thanks Pikachu. You really saved me back there. That was an amazing Electro Ball..." I said, smiling to my yellow rodent friend. Pikachu smiled back at me and gave me the Pokemon equivalent of a thumbs up sign. I grinned and picked him up, placing him on my shoulder. We started walking back to Pallet Town.
After about three hours of walking, I felt a small shuffle of movement from my left shoulder. I looked at Pikachu, who jumped off my shoulder, then stumbled and fell on the floor.
"What's wrong, bud?" I asked him, concerned.
"Pi... Pikapi..." Pikachu said. But it wasn't the normal happy sounds that came out of my friend. No. It was harsh, forced and labored. The normal high pitched squeaking took on a raspy quality.
"Do you need a Potion?" I asked him. Pikachu shook his head, looking at me with wide, dilated eyes. Wait... Wide, dilated eyes...
I immediately knelt beside him and check him over. There, under his tail, was Bite mark that was left by the Raticate. It was oozing blood, but much to my horror, the blood was black.
How did I not notice that before? How could I have not checked him over? He stayed mostly on the back of my head and kept his tail down when Raticate attacked me so I would not notice the wound before. But how could I have not checked him afterwards?
"Pi... Pikachu... Pikapi..." Pikachu said. I noticed that his breathing was becoming forced and labored, his eyes widening even more. Bits of foam was starting to come out of his mouth, as the symptoms where starting to take place. In a few minutes, he would become a mindless creature, like the Raticate was. He would no longer be my partner, my best friend.
"W-What should I do?" I asked, looking through my bag for Lum Berries. Lum Berries stopped the progression of the disease, at the early stages.
"Pika..." Pikachu weakly shook his head. "Pikapi..." Pikachu said, staring at the gun on my hip.
"I can't, Pikachu! I already lost everyone else! Hell, I lost everything else! My reputation as the Pokemon Master, Ash Ketchum, ended when Charizard contracted Lyssavirus and killed the rest of the Pokemon! My mom! Misty! Gary! Professor Oak! The kids! The disease robbed them all from me! Lyssavirus took everything from me! You are all I have left! I-I can't bare to lose you too..." I said, as my voice cracked. Tears flowed from my eyes, obscuring my vision, as I looked at Pikachu panting on the ground.
"Pika..." Pikachu said, as the disease was about to take its victim. I looked at him, realizing what he said. That he did not want to be a mindless killer. That he would not forgive me for letting him become one. That he would hate me for not killing him when he had the chance. That he would loathe me for forcing him to kill his best friend, once the disease took over his mind.
Wiping my tears with the back of my hand, I then looked at my gun. There was one bullet left. I held it up to Pikachu's head. The sound of the trigger and my sobs mingled as the life left Pikachu's eyes.
I know, I am absolutely a terrible human being for doing this to Ash and Pikachu. Also, Lyssavirus is somewhat similar to rabies in a way. The real Lyssavirus is actually a classification of viruses and rabies is in it. Anyways, R&R and please no flames…